


Petals Falling Down

by Sassysofia



Series: As the Cherry Blossoms Bloom [2]
Category: N.Flying (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Angst, Coffee Shops, Drinking, Emotional Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Hweseung is afraid of feelings, M/M, Miscommunication, Original Character(s), Regret, Reminiscing, Small Towns, barista!Seunghyub, ghosting, producer!Hweseung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sassysofia/pseuds/Sassysofia
Summary: Hweseung leaves as the blossoms start to bloom. He was always meant to come back.
Relationships: Lee Seunghyub | J.DON/Yoo Hoeseung
Series: As the Cherry Blossoms Bloom [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211804
Kudos: 7





	Petals Falling Down

**Author's Note:**

> Not going to lie, this was frustrating to write. Hopefully you don't hate Hweseung after this hahaha

The small town was blanketed in a layer of fallen cherry blossom petals. A scene that to most people would bring joy after the long harsh months of winter that the town had faced. 

Young couples had emerged from the quaint houses that lined the streets to take in the picturesque views that seemed to come out of an anime. The snow had melted away making room for the grasses and smaller flowers to grow up in its place. 

The trees turned green and then pink as the blossoms grew to their fullest potential, making people forget of the dark grey winter. 

Hweseung usually loved this time of year, always making sure to take photos in front of pink blossoms that signaled a time of rebirth. 

_ Rebirth… _ he huffed as he thought about all the pain he had gone through over the past few weeks.  _ So much for rebirth.  _

After his grandmother had passed away a few weeks prior, he had become attached to the idea of staying by Seunghyub’s side. Leaving was out of the question for him. However, when his manager had found out of the passing of Mrs. Yoo, he had demanded that Hweseung come back to Seoul on the soonest train. 

Deep down he had known that he should be heading back. Technically that was the deal he had made with his manager. His grandmother needed someone to stay with her due to old age. He would either stay with her until she passed away, or until the beginning of summer. 

“Whichever comes first.” his manager had flippantly stated to him the day he finally convinced the man to let him leave on hiatus.

He had to go back to Seoul for his group. They had been gone too long and fans were getting antsy. It would be mean to make them wait. 

Trying to push back the inevitable, was becoming less feasible as the days went on. Eventually he made up his mind. He would have to leave for a bit. But he would get back to this small town, back into Seunghyub’s arms even if he had to crawl back. 

Saying goodbye was the tricky part. Hweseung hated goodbyes. It made leaving feel permanent. Something that he didn’t even say to his grandma as she lay in that dreaded hospital bed.

Surrounded by the stark white walls, he had chanted, “It will get better. When you get checked out of here we can visit the knitting shop and pick out some new yarn! You will get better.” Maybe lying to himself made it more bearable, so that's what he did when he left Seunghyub. 

\----------------------------------------------

He woke up the morning after their date under the cherry blossom tree, motionlessly got up to take a walk around the town and buy the train ticket to Seoul. Only when he knew for sure that Seunghyub was at the cafe, did he go back to the house and pack his suitcase. 

Looking around the messy room with blankets thrown on the floor on books stacked against the wall, a sense of sadness washed over him. He tried to memorize each and every inch of the room just in case he would be gone for a while.

Walking to the pile closest to Seunghyub’s side, Hweseung picked up the book his boyfriend had been reading last week. 

_ Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa  _ was sprawled out on the cover. He had remembered how Seunghyub had cried at the end of the book. How the older boy had turned to him and stated how much he missed his mother and how he was sorry about Mrs. Yoo. 

They cried a lot the past few weeks. It had been rough. 

Deciding to bring it with him to read while he was away, he slipped the book into his bag and looked around one last time before he started his journey down the winding paths, making sure to avoid the cafe area. He couldn’t bring himself to say goodbye to Seunghyub. If he saw him, he wouldn't be able to get himself to leave for Seoul. 

On his way down the hill, it felt like he ran into everyone he knew. He had to tell them all that he was going to Seoul for a quick business trip. Something he repeated to himself to make it easier. 

_ A short business trip. No more than a few days. No problem. I will be back.  _ He thought over and over. 

Soon the train was pulling up to the station. His phone buzzed in his pocket, however he was too focused on getting his luggage into the train. 

As he sat down he thought about what Seunghyub would do when he came back to the empty house. He felt a little guilt bubble up inside him but he quickly pushed it down as the train started to move. 

The view outside of the train showed the hills upon hills of cherry blossom trees and green leaves. They mixed together to form a wonderland of cotton candy trees. The blur soon put him to sleep for the rest of the two hour long journey to the city. 

\----------------

Seoul was louder than Hweseung had remembered. Music came out of store fronts and honking from the cars created a cacophony of chaos that he had once smiled at in a sense of home. Now it only played as a reminder of how quiet it had been back with Seunghyub. 

Stepping out the taxi, his foot splashed straight into a puddle on the side of the road. 

“Oh great. Just my luck,” he groaned as the dirty street water soaked into his white socks. 

He paid the taxi driver and hauled his bag up to the sidewalk before looking up at his apartment building. 

_ Home sweet home…  _

He flicked the lights on in his apartment and looked around. It was fairly small, but most apartments were in the city. It had one room separate from the main living space as well as a single bathroom. It was modern and stark on the inside. Most of his furniture was grey and black.

The house was cold from sitting over winter by itself, empty of life. 

His phone buzzed, and he took it out. “Manager from Hell” flashed across the screen. 

“Hello? What do you want?” He sighed, too tired for fake politeness towards the man who made him come back. 

“Did you manage to get back to your apartment ok? I’m sorry that I wasn’t about to pick you up at the station. I had to take Jaehyun to his drama cover shoot last minute.” The older man babbled on and on. Hweseung just hummed in agreement when a response was necessary. 

“It’s fine. I just got back, thanks for checking in.” 

“Get some rest tonight and don’t worry about coming to the studio early tomorrow. I am so glad to have you back, and I am sure the boys are just as happy.” With that the call ended, and his phone went back to the locked screen picture of Seunghyub playing the piano. 

He missed him already. 

Getting up to unpack his stuff, he chucked the book he had stolen from Seunghyub on the bed, not realizing that it slid and fell down the side against the wall. 

After he was unpacked, he climbed into the dark grey covers and let dreamland take him away from reality. 

\-------------------------------------------

A month went by and 4242 was a few days away from a comeback. The company was in full on promotion mode. The songs for the album had been approved and sent to the production line. Teasers had been uploaded to the social media accounts, and Hweseung only thought about one thing today: Seunghyub liked his instagram post. 

Guilt is a funny thing, it seemed to only show up when you stopped working and allowed yourself to think of your own wrong doings. 

He had clicked on the notification and started scrolling through his boyfriend’s instagram. The boy didn’t update often; the last post was from their picnic date the day before he had left. The caption: “Dinner tastes different when accompanied with the person you love.” 

It was a really cheesy caption that Hweseung had dared him to use. Thinking that the taller would have laughed it off, he had been surprised when he had just shrugged and typed it in. 

“Hyung! What are you thinking about? You have been spacing out for a few minutes now.” An arm was flung around his shoulders and he was snapped out of his guilt. 

“Ah, Dongsung, sorry. What’s up?” he mumbled looking at the younger boy. 

“We finished putting away our equipment from practice. We want to go out for some food. Jaehyun said to come get you.” He spoke quickly as he pointed towards the room where they had just practiced. 

“HWESEUNG!!! Let’s go get chicken. It’s on you today!” Jaehyun yelled from inside the room before peeking his head out of the door to give his signature smile. Hun followed the loud boy along with Jaesung, their pianist. 

“Ok ok. Chicken on me today. We all worked hard for this comeback. Sorry for making you all wait.” He smiled back at his group. 

\-----------------------------------------------

One comeback became a couple months which became almost a year. Hweseung was still in Seoul with no break in sight. 

The leaves had turned orange and seemed to fall off at a faster rate than normal due to the stormy weather bringing in strong winds. 

Hweseung walked along the winding store fronts a few blocks from the studio. Having been cooped up all day in his small producing room, he needed the fresh air to get inspiration, or to prevent himself from going crazy. 

The streets slowly got busier as he got closer to the main shopping street in Gangnam that everyone flocked to. He was just about to turn around when he noticed a familiar tall figure turn up the shopping street. 

He was tall and lanky as usual. He wore tight black skinny jeans and a nice denim jacket on top. The back of his head was perfectly styled into a nice mop of brown wavy hair. 

_ It’s him. It’s really Seunghyub!  _

Suddenly panicked that he would lose the man in the crowded street, he took off running to catch up to him. 

Weaving in and out through people on the sidewalk, he took the sharp turn onto the same street he saw Sunghyub turn down. 

He stopped for a second to assess the street in front of him and try to find the man. Girls carrying large shopping bags and men dressed in expensive streetwear brands littered the area. The tall trees were lined with knitted cozies to keep them warm for the harsh winter that was coming up. All things that blocked Hweseung from seeing the familiar figure he once called his. 

Walking down the sidewalk he looked into every store front in hopes of seeing him. Music blasting from every shop fell silent on his ringing ears. The only thing he could focus on was finding his man. 

Halfway down the main stretch, he saw the denim jacketed man come out of a cafe holding an iced americano before he turned down the alley along the side of the building that led to a smaller road behind. 

Hwesung sprinted towards him, not caring if he bumped into people along his way. He couldn’t let Seunghyub slip through his fingers again. 

_ Why is he here? Is he trying to find me? Did he sell the cafe to find his dreams of becoming a pianist? What’s going on?  _

He reached the edge of the alleyway and looked down it. He was met with the back of the tall man. Hweseung slowly walked up and reached his hand to the broad denim cladded shoulder before gently resting it on the man to get his attention. 

_ I had missed him so much. Now he is here with me and everything can be fixed. I can apologize for never saying goodbye.  _

The tall man slowly turned to see who had grabbed his shoulder, looking down at Hweseung with an irritated look on his face. 

“Um, can we help you?” spat a girl holding a cigarette who had been revealed when the tall broad man turned to the side to greet the intruder in their conversation. 

She was clothed in a tight, bright red mini dress. Her lips adorned in the same rouge tone. Upon her feet were strapped heels that looked nowhere near comfortable, one wrong move away from an ankle sprain. 

Confused as to who this woman was and what she had to do with Seunghyub, he turned to the man he had followed looking for answers. 

As his eye made their way from the moody girl up to the other in the alleyway, Hweseung was not met with the face of the man he loved. He had mistaken a complete stranger for his Seunghyub. 

Realizing how foolish he had been, his hand flew off the man's shoulder where it once sat, as if it had burned him. 

He looked back and forth between the apparent couple. They both were model material. Tall, thin, attractive. While they had their flaws, mostly personality wise, at least they had each other. 

“Um sorry. You resemble someone I know. It seems like I made a mistake.” He stuttered out before quickly running out of the alley, wind stinging his cheeks, unable to hold back the tears as he ran. 

He needed to get out of here. He needed to go home. No, he needed Seunghyub. 

\-------------------------------------

It was well past noon and Hweseung found himself still wrapped up in his comforter in bed with no plans of leaving today. 

His manager had texted to see if he was coming in today and he responded with a thumbs down emoji and called it a day. 

He had not slept well all night since the mixup that happened the day before. Nightmares of Seunghyub meeting him again and refusing to speak to him, or nightmares of Seunghyub getting in horrible accidents when Hweseung couldn’t be there for him. 

Looking down at his phone, he thought about calling Seunghyub, something he thought about daily, but at last he wasn’t strong enough to do. If he did, the floodgates of emotions he had been hiding the past year would crash open and that didn’t seem like a good idea. 

_ He probably wouldn’t even answer his phone anyways. And what would I even say?  _

_ “Hi, it's me, your runaway boyfriend back from the dead. Sorry for dipping without a word and then ghosting you when you tried to contact me. Opps.”  _

_ God I am such an idiot. What have I done?  _

Groaning he picked up his phone and threw it to the foot of his bed before flopping back down and shoving a pillow into his face. 

A few hours later there was a knock at his door. Hweseung was going to ignore it and keep potatoing around in bed until he heard his bandmate's familiar voice. 

“Hweseung-ah. Get your butt out of bed. I brought you food, you need to eat to stay healthy.” Hun shouted. 

Not about to leave his cocoon of blankets, Hweseung stood up and wrapped them around his head before waddling to the door like a penguin. 

“You look horrible.” Hun deadpanned the second he laid eyes on Hweseung. 

“Hello to you too.” Hweseung stepped to the side so the other could make his way inside. 

“At least your house is immaculate, as usual. You should see Jaehyun’s. I am pretty sure you can lose a small child among the piles of clothing and video gaming equipment in there.” He slid his shoes off and walked straight towards the couch, making himself at home. 

“I brought you tteokbokki and a ton of soju. Come eat.” he patted the spot next to him. 

Waddling back over to the living room, he dramatically dropped onto the couch and laid his head in the taller boy’s lap. Hun just patted his head and nodded in understanding. 

After a few minutes, after Hun had set all the food up on the table, he leaned down and placed a pair of chopsticks in the bundled boy’s hands. 

“Eat,” he commanded. “And then we will get drunk and talk about what's going on.” 

\-------------------------------------------

Four empty soju bottles between the two and one more to go, Hweseung stopped and turned towards the man next to him. 

“I am a horrible person,” he mumbled, words already slightly slurring. 

“Why are you a horrible person? Did you rob a bank or something?” 

“Worse. I left the man I love without a single word of goodbye. Just poof, I was gone.” He pouted. 

“What man? Did you meet someone recently? No, you didn’t have the time for that. Was this when you were at your grandmother’s? That was so long ago and it’s just now getting to you?” Hun tried to make sense of the younger man’s rambles. 

Feeling around for his phone, he remembered that it had been on the foot of his bed when he stood up taking the blankets with him. 

Rising from the sofa, he rushed to his room, but the phone was nowhere to be seen. 

_ Maybe it's under the bed.  _

Crouching down, he tipped his head down towards the floor to get a better view of underneath. 

_ Ah, there it is.  _

As he reached for the phone, he noticed a book that had been standing upright, facing against the wall. 

Reaching as far as he could, he couldn’t reach the book. 

“Hun, come here for a second. I need your dumb long arms.” He grunted. 

Coming in to see Hweseung flat on the floor half under the bed. 

“Is this how you have decided to hide from your fears in life?” he laughed. 

“No, you idiot, my phone was under my bed, and I noticed there was a book that must have fallen down here, but I can’t reach it.” 

Pushing the boy out of the way, Hun climbed under the bed and retrieved the book, holding it out towards Hweseung. 

Scrolled across the cover was “Sweet Bean Paste”. Hweseung gasped and stared at it as if he looked away, the book would disappear forever. 

Shaking, he reached up to grab it. His hand did not hold tight on the book, causing it to tumble to the floor at the two pairs of feet. 

Crouching down, Hweseung couldn’t stop the tears from bubbling over and pouring out. It was the dam that he tried to hold so tightly shut, and one single book had broken it. 

Not knowing what to do, Hun crouched down next to the shaking boy patting his back in an attempt to comfort the crumpled form in front of him. 

No words were exchanged between the two. Hun carefully helped Hweseung into bed after a while, tucked him in tight after retrieving his blankets from the living room. 

“I think you need to go see him.” Hun sighed. Patting Hweseung’s back, he turned towards the door. After cleaning up their mess in the living room he stepped out the front door making sure to lock it behind him as he left. 

\------------------------------------

It took a week for Hun’s words to finally break down Hweseung’s nerves to purchase a train ticket one evening at the company building. Everything in Hwesung’s being told him that Seunghyub wouldn't want to see him. That he would be going back for nothing, and that it was ruined forever because he was selfish. 

The process of purchasing the actual ticket took about three hours as he kept adding it to the cart to check out only to close the page and walk away. This repeated a couple of times until Jaehyun walked in on him.

“Whatcha buying? Anything interesting?” The lanky boy bounced over and peered over Hweseung’s shoulder to see what was happening on the computer screen. 

“Hey! Privacy please!” he screeched. 

“Why? It's not like you are buying sex toys or anything. It’s just a train ticket. What's so secretive about th--Oh my god. Do you have a secret lover or secret family or something?!” he gasped. 

“Shhhhh the whole company building can hear you! And no, I do not have a secret family. My god.” Hweseung panicked and looked towards the door to make sure it was closed. 

“But you didn’t deny the lover. Who is it? Please do tell.” Jaehyun wiggled his eyebrows up and down and settled himself backwards into the seat across from the panicked boy, arms draped across the back of the chair, head cocked expectantly. 

“Don’t you have someone else to go bug right now?” Hweseung sighed. 

“Nope! Jaesung is talking with the manager. The other two have left for the day already. Hun said something about needing to rush back to Romang and Dongsung said something about working out or whatever. Now, entertain me.” He smirked at Hweseung who was questioning how he got the short end of the stick in this situation. 

“Fine. Yeah, there is someone that I met when I was living with my grandmother. I plan to go back and visit him.” 

“You mean to tell me that you have had a secret lover this whole time yet you never once mentioned him or took time off work to visit? Man you must be a sucky boyfriend…” Jaehyun had still been processing the new information that had been dropped on him to notice the flinch that wracked Hweseung’s body when the cold hard truth came out of the older boy’s mouth. 

“Well purchase the ticket then. Why is it still sitting in your cart? You need to rush back to him before it gets worse.” Jaehyun said standing up and making his way over to the laptop. 

Before Hweseung had realized what the taller man had intended to do, the tickets were purchased in one click of the big blue ‘purchase ticket’ button at the bottom of the page. 

“Send me a picture with him once you apologize for being one of those lame people who suck at long distance relationships.” Jaehyun called out as he walked out the door. His deed was done here, it was time to drag Hun out of the house and down to the local PC bang to play some video games. 

Well shit. Hweseung stared at the screen where big block letters ran across the top spelling out ‘purchase complete’. 

_ I guess I am finally going back.  _

Lifting up his phone, he clicked open Instagram to look through Seunghyub’s profile. He had one new post. A picture of the fig tree that sat in the corner of the cafe. N.fia! That’s what Seunghyub had named it. Below the plant sat some books stacked around the base of the pot. None of them looked familiar to Hweseung. 

Scrolling down, the caption came into view with three simple words. “Missing old times.” 

Jaehyun and Hun were right. He did need to go back. Even if that caption wasn’t about him, Hweseung himself missed the old times. 

Old times with Seunghyub wrapped around him as they sat by the fire. Seunghyub with a book in his hands and Hweseung with his phone reading webtoons online. 

The times when Seunghyub would wake him up ridiculously early to watch the sunrise before he headed to the cafe. He would roll around in bed and complain until the taller man would pick him up and carry him to the small deck of their house, a freshly made coffee sitting on the railing already waiting for him. 

Or the times when they would wander the knitting store looking for the very specific supplies his grandmother had requested. Both of them lost and highly amused at the way the elderly women looked fondly at them as they picked up random supplies and tried to guess what they were used for. Most of the time he had guessed medieval torture devices, because some of these knitting objects were kinda scary looking, only for Seunghyub to shush him and playfully hit his arm to quiet down from the giggles they seemed to not be able to suppress. 

Yeah. Hweseung should have gotten on a train much earlier. Or perhaps, he should have never left in the first place. 

———————————————

The day of the trip came a lot sooner than expected. Deep down Hweseung dreaded going back. He had caused a lot of trouble and facing them may only bring bad news. 

As he loaded his bag onto the train, only panicked thoughts occupied his mind. 

_ He is going to refuse to talk to me. What if everyone in town bans me from visiting? Seunghyub might have a new boyfriend already. He is probably a much better boyfriend than I was. More direct and supportive. He is probably a morning person. Morning people always have their life put together, unlike me.  _

These thoughts continued for almost the whole train ride. Only being interrupted a few times when the announcement of stops came over the intercom. 

By the time they made it to his stop, he was a sweating nervous wreck. 

Only a couple of other people exited the train with him. A tired looking man in his 50s, a family of three struggling to lug all their luggage off, and an old couple who had bundles of food they carried with care. 

Looking around the station, Hweseung sighed. While in Seoul, he had missed Seunghyub, but now that he had come back, he realized how much he missed this little town as well.

Seoul was fast paced, loud, and crowded with people. The station in front of him was nothing like Seoul Station where he had boarded. A young woman and a toddler waited to greet the older couple, besides the one person who entered the train behind Hweseung, they were the only ones waiting on the platform. It would never be this empty in Seoul. 

His phone pinged making him stop for a second, lifting it up, he saw that somehow he missed 4 phone calls and about 15 text messages. Before he could open the messages in bright white letters, an incoming call from ‘Dongsungie’ flashed across the screen. 

Confused, he picked it up, only to hear a rushed Dongsung rambling over the phone. “Hyung, you need to come back. Jaeseung left the band and the media is going wild. He was in a scandal. It's all over the news.” The youngest member was talking so fast that Hweseung almost didn’t understand him. In the background you could hear Jaehyun asking if Hweseung had finally picked up. 

“Wow. Slow down. What’s happening? What scandal?” 

“I don’t know, but I think you should come back.” Dongsung slowed his speech a little but you should tell that he had been pacing back and forth from the way his breath came out ragged over the line. 

“Are you all together? You, Hun, Jaehyun, and Jaeseung?” Hweseung tried to make sense of everything. 

“No. Jaeseung isn’t here. He even packed up all his belongings from our shared house without saying anything. I had gone home after my radio show recording and he was just gone.” The boy sounded almost at the edge of tears. 

Looking at the entrance of the train station Hweseung couldn’t believe what was happening right now. He was within walking distance from Seunghyub and here his band was, falling apart right under him. 

“I-- I can’t come back yet.” He stuttered quietly. 

He had already made up his mind, however selfish it was. He needed Seunghyub and the band could wait. 

Taking a deep breath he took his first steps towards the exit of the train station. 

“Hyung, are you sure you can’t come back?” the younger pleaded over the phone. Hweseung could hear voices in the background from his other bandmates but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. 

Part of him was still in shock that Jaeseung was leavinging. What would their band do? What did he do? Was all their hard work for nothing? 

Betrayal and confusion had clouded his mind. His walk slowed to a stop again. Suddenly a sense of dejavu hit him. Jaeseung had just packed everything and left. Just like he did. 

This is how Seunghyub must have felt. He betrayed Seunghyub and left him with nothing but questions. 

_ Shit _ . 

“Dongsung, I really can’t come back right now. Give me a week. I will be back in a week.” He rushed out of the building, into the pouring rain, filled with determination. The boy on the other side of the line remained silent. 

“I recently did exactly what Jaeseung did. I packed up all my belongings and just left without saying a word, and I hurt someone I care about. I know this is hard, but I'm sure he will get in contact soon. He is probably laying low due to the media. I need to stay here because I am trying to fix the relationship I left behind.” He was soaked to the skin and running up the hill.

The streets were flooded with rainwater, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have time to stop by the convenience store and buy an umbrella. 

“Ok. Promise to be back in one week.” Dongsung mumbled.

“Yes, I promise! I will be there soon. Stay at Jaehyun’s house in the meantime. I will talk to you soon,” Hweseung rushed. 

“WAIT! Could you try calling him? He won’t pick up for any of us, but I figured because you are the leader that maybe...” He trailed off. 

“Of course. I will try to call him soon. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jaeseung was at his house with his parents.” Hweseung encouraged. 

Soon they were exchanging their goodbyes as Hweseung rounded the corner on the street of Seunghyub’s house. 

The gate out front was shoved aside as he slowed down to make his way up the stairs to the front door. 

_ Ok, here we go. Knock on the door and, for the love of god, please let him forgive me.  _

Taking a deep breath, he knocked heavily four times on the solid wooden door. 

The rain seemed to pour even harder. The sound it made on the roofs nearby would have drowned out any sounds that could have been coming from inside the home. 

After a few minutes, Hweseung realized that while he was rushing to see Seunghyub again, he forgot one very important thing. Seunghyub was at work. 

  
  


\----------------------------------------------

The revived passion that had given him the strength to sprint up a hill had diminished just like that. 

Stepping off the front porch, his mind now cleared, only doubts started to run through his head again, just like they had on the train coming here. 

_ I can’t just rush in and expect him to forgive me. The cafe is going to have customers there and I’m just going to ruin his day by showing up.  _

He grabbed the handle of the suitcase he had dragged behind him during the run, probably ruined now that it had been so aggressively dragged through the rain. 

  
  


The walk from Seunghyub’s house to the cafe felt shorter than he had hoped. Dread started to fill him. Looking up he saw the weathered sign hanging from the side of the building. 

_ Le Petit Prince. We have met once again.  _

Taking a deep breath, he worked up the courage to put his hand on the door. With a little push, the door swung open, revealing the inside of the cafe. 

His eyes scanned across the room quickly, the same old piano remained pressed against the back wall of the cafe, the fig tree in the corner loomed over a neighboring table, and the same decorations littered the walls. Everything was the same as before. 

A warm smile fell across his face as he kept scanning the cafe until his eyes met with a pair from behind the counter. The tall lanky man stood frozen behind the counter, slightly bent over with a hand towel in one hand as if he had just been messing with the coffee maker in front of him. 

Hesitating, Hweseung felt himself also go still, not knowing what to do or say. Seunghyub was standing right in front of him yet all he could do was stare. 

The taller man was first to break the deafening silence between the two. A low breath of air left him almost sounding like a chuckle. 

He shifted upward and put one hand on his hip and he looked Hweseung up and down before he spoke in his oh so familiar low voice. 

“You really need to invest in an umbrella, Seoul boy.” 

Looking down at himself, Hweseung realized that he was completely soaked, just like the first day he had walked into this cafe over a year ago. 

Here he was coming to plead for Seunghyub’s forgiveness and the first words he hears from the tall man is ‘invest in an umbrella?’ Out of all the  possible scenarios he had run through his head, this was not one he ever imagined. 

Giggles started to bubble up within him until it’s all he could do. 

He grabbed his stomach and bent over laughing out loud and Seunghyub soon joined him. 

“Are you kidding me? That's the first thing you have to say? I thought you were going to scream at me to leave or something.” His giggles faded as his eyes welled up with tears. 

Seunghyub made his way around the counter to the shorter boy, slowly approaching him. Hweseung instinctively walked into his arms. 

“I have every right to be angry. Hell! I’m pissed. I should be the one crying.” He wrapped his arms around Hweseung, who could only sob, shaking hands reaching up to grip the white t-shirt that Seunghyub was wearing. 

“However, you are soaked, and I don’t want you to get sick. So, let's go back to my house and get you changed. Then you owe me an explanation, and I will decide if I want to yell at you or not.” He stubbornly stated as he rocked the boy in his arms back and forth. 

Hweseung knew that he didn’t deserve to be comforted by Seunghyub right now, however as they rocked back and forth, the comforting smell of the taller man seemed to calm him and make him believe it was going to all be alright. 

_ It was going to be alright, right?  _


End file.
